Jobless and ex-offenders will help build Walkie Talkie tower

The property developer behind the City's £500million Walkie Talkie tower has set aside 100 jobs on the project for the long-term unemployed, school leavers and ex-offenders.

Land Securities said those recruited to work on the building, officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street, would be given training to work on the construction of the development and could secure full-times roles once the 525ft-tall office block is completed in 2014.

The company, which also has Cheapside's One New Change shopping centre, the former Home Office building at Queen Anne's Gate and the lights at Piccadilly Circus in its £5 billion London portfolio, said that it would "ring-fence" jobs for people "who need a leg up" on all its future developments.

The Land Securities initiative follows a project launched by some of London's biggest "Magic Circle" law firms which involves allocating hundreds of work experience places for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Robert Noel, managing director of Land Securities London portfolio, said the company wanted to be seen as "doing the right thing" for people in the areas where they were doing work.

He said: "We want to be in the position where local authorities prefer Land Securities building in their communities to anyone else. We should be seen as part of the community rather than an island in the community."

He said the scheme would identify people whose lives had taken a wrong turn but who were keen to work through partnerships with bodies such as Job Centre Plus and the London Probation Service.

Recruits would be drawn from the area, or in the case of the 37-storey Walkie Talkie tower, in the City where there are few residents, surrounding boroughs such as Tower Hamlets.

Mr Noel said the ex-offenders taken on would not be "hardened criminals" but "people who have fallen off the straight and narrow but who with a bit of help can come back to leading a constructive life".

He added: "We are not interested in people who don't want to get out of bed in the morning. We are interested in people who want to work but through no fault of their own need a leg up."

'It's made things a lot easier for us ... now we can pay the bills'

Painter and decorator William Jordan, who lives with his pregnant partner and three-year-old son, had been out of work for six months and was surviving on about £120 a week Jobseeker's Allowance.

He heard about the Land Securities scheme at 62 Buckingham Gate in Victoria, and after two weeks training the 25-year-old was taken on by Land Securities' contractor Robert McAlpine.

He was given tasks such as helping to put up plasterboard, laying flooring and hanging doors. After a three-month trial he was offered a full-time job, which has given him security until the development is finished in 2013.